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Message from the Head of the Department

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Welcome to the website of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Bombay! The department occupies a unique social and academic location in an institution of higher learning whose main thrust is technological research and education. Spanning the disciplines of Economics, English literature and language, Linguistics, Philosophy, Psychology, and Sociology, its faculty members teach a wide variety of core and elective courses for under-graduate and post-graduate students from the science and engineering departments of IIT Bombay. In addition to an inter-disciplinary M,Phil in Planning and Development, the department has a strong Ph.D program in all of the above disciplines. The setting up of a Cell for Indian Science and Technology in Sanskrit (CISTS) in the department has not only created new opportunities for research collaboration within and across the institute, it has also provided avenues for new research areas for Ph.D students seeking admission into the department. The department faculty are involved in a number of research projects independently, in collaboration with faculty members from other departments of IITB, and as part of international research networks and partnerships.

The alumni of the department are well placed in academia, NGOs and the development sector, and in government and private sector. The department provides unique opportunities for aspiring doctoral students – offering an ambience different from that of conventional university departments in the arts and social sciences, especially by facilitating conversations and discussions across multiple disciplines and research areas. The department and its faculty members conduct a regular seminar series in addition to national and international conferences, symposia and workshops. Beginning in the late 1950s as a ‘service’ department, the department has gone on to acquire a prominent stature for its teaching and research activities, well known and recognized within the IIT system, and among universities in India for its Ph.D program, and for the research output of its faculty members. As the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay grows in stature and quality, our department aspires to considerably expand its research and teaching activities in new directions, and welcome all initiatives and support which would help us work towards that goal.